ELMONT, N.Y. – After several delays over the last 11 months, the New York Gaming Commission is scheduled to hold hearings Tuesday and Wednesday to determine whether to take action against trainer Linda Rice for alleged improper acts over a four-year period.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Attachment Rate earned an 82 Beyer Speed Figure in a 6 1/4-length victory as the 1-2 favorite in a first-level allowance Thursday over the Churchill slop.
After winning a Gulfstream Park maiden race in mid-February, Attachment Rate had fared respectably without winning in six straight stakes, getting his career-best Beyer (95) in a runner-up finish in the Aug. 9 Ellis Park Derby. He then was 14th of 15 in the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby prior to trying the allowance ranks for the first time Thursday.
Blame the enthusiasm of youth, but Aron Wellman hoped to conquer American racing when he launched Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners in 2011.
“Naively and ambitiously, we wanted to build the stable to have runners in every division of the Breeders’ Cup,” Wellman recalled with a laugh Thursday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Greg Foley and his clients of some 25 years have gone down this road once before – although it’s been a while.
Foley and the partners in the Wisconsin-based Lloyd Madison Farms were represented in the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Lone Star Park when Champali finished seventh, beaten just 3 1/2 lengths.
“It was a fun time,” Foley recalled this week at his home track of Churchill Downs. “It was exciting, having all the owners there and all that.”
Oaklawn Park on Thursday announced a number of proposed racing integrity policies it hopes to have in place when the meet opens Jan. 22, including prohibiting the use of the diuretic Lasix in qualifying-points races for the Kentucky Derby or Kentucky Oaks and the integration of safety riding crops.
Some of the policies are subject to regulatory approval, with passage expected in advance of the meet. The season is set to feature record purses. It runs through May 1.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Happy Saver, the undefeated winner of the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, was sent to the Kentucky farm of owners Alain and Gerard Wertheimer in Lexington, Ky. on Wednesday and will a get two-month freshening before returning for a 4-year-old campaign.
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ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher was able to get workouts into three of his Breeders’ Cup contenders Thursday morning over the training track before the heavy rain came down.
Mutasaabeq, preparing for the $1 million Juvenile Turf, worked a half-mile in 49.58 seconds in company with the debut-winning 2-year-old filly Malathaat. Mutasaabeq, on the outside, went his opening quarter in 24.83, got his second quarter in 24.75 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.19, six furlongs in 1:14.80, and seven-eighths in 1:28.26.
Rombauer, a game second in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes on Sept. 26 at Santa Anita, worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 on Thursday at Santa Anita in preparation for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 6 at Keeneland.
Rombauer, ridden by exercise rider Osman Cedeno, worked in company with a stablemate and was clear of the competition in the latter portion of the workout, trainer Michael McCarthy said.
“He kind of got a little lost when he left his company a little bit,” McCarthy said. “We need to keep his mind on business.”
Sharing, winner of the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita and three other stakes, is expected to have her debut against older fillies and mares in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at a mile on turf Nov. 29 at Del Mar.
Trainer Graham Motion said Wednesday that Sharing will be one of several stakes-caliber runners he plans to send to Del Mar for the final days of the track’s autumn meeting, which begins Saturday.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Kelly Breen has come to learn first hand how much Firenze Fire dislikes a wet track.
“We see that he doesn’t have a foot for it, he’s run horrible in it,” Breen said. “Throw out the rain and we’re in good shape.”
